# 4: Discrete Random Variables


It is often the case that a number is naturally associated to the outcome of a random experiment: the number of boys in a three-child family, the number of defective light bulbs in a case of 100 bulbs, the length of time until the next customer arrives at the drive-through window at a bank. Such a number varies from trial to trial of the corresponding experiment, and does so in a way that cannot be predicted with certainty; hence, it is called a random variable. In this chapter and the next we study such variables.

• 4.1: Random Variables
A random variable is a number generated by a random experiment. A random variable is called discrete if its possible values form a finite or countable set. A random variable is called continuous if its possible values contain a whole interval of numbers.
• 4.2: Probability Distributions for Discrete Random Variables
The probability distribution of a discrete random variable X is a list of each possible value of X together with the probability that X takes that value in one trial of the experiment. The probabilities in the probability distribution of a random variable X must satisfy the following two conditions: Each probability P(x) must be between 0 and 1  and the sum of all the probabilities is 1 .
• 4.3: The Binomial Distribution
Suppose a random experiment has the following characteristics. There are n identical and independent trials of a common procedure. There are exactly two possible outcomes for each trial, one termed “success” and the other “failure.” The probability of success on any one trial is the same number p. Then the discrete random variable X that counts the number of successes in the n trials is the binomial random variable with parameters n and p. We also say that X has a binomial distribution
• 4.E: Discrete Random Variables (Exercises)

4: Discrete Random Variables is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to conform to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.